Ok, here's the deal. The apartment complex I live in is set amoung a really nice community where the homes range from 300k to several mil. We pay $1425 a month for a 3 bedroom (about 1400 sq feet) apartment and a two car garage. For Indianapolis that is on the very high end of apartments. Because we are paying so much we expected to have a high quality apartment with nice amenities and the such. Also, this is a brand new complex and we were not only the third resident in our building, but the first to occupy our apartment. We have been there since August 1 and have a 13 month lease that ends on the last day of August. Since moving in, these are some of the problems we have endured: - Roof leaking during a thunderstorm. The water came in through the smoke alarms and went off for three hours starting at 1 am. I would have unplugged them but water and electricity do not go together and having been seriously electricuted before, we waited for the fire department to arrive. - Our AC went out during the hottest weekend of the summer. It wasnt fixed for 3 days. - We had no electricity for two and a half weeks in the building that our garage is in therefore we were not able to use it since it uses an opener exclusively. There is no handle to open it manually. - Our stove literally blew up, sparks and flames coming out of the back, during Christmas dinner. Only after throwing a huge fit with management was it replaced the same day. They wanted to wait for GE to come out and service it and consequently ruin over $500 of food I was preparing. - We were told when we signed the lease that we were not responsible for water. Two weeks ago we receive a water bill for NOVEMBER!!!!! We ask about this and were told that it is in our lease that we are responsible for water. Well dumb dumb, what happened to August through October? - We were told when we moved in that we could have a satellite dish. When the install guy came to install it, they only had one line going to the living room. What about our other rooms? We watch TV in more than just the living room. Allegedly we were told about this but I know we were not. The staff that was on hand when we signed our lease (including the manager) were all fired the next week. We were then told that for $75 a line the apartments would run the cable for our other rooms. So $150 later we had dish in our apartment. - Because we signed a 13 month lease we were supposed to get the first month free. When we signed our lease we had to pay all of the deposits, first (or second months) rent, and app fees. On August 6 we were told that we were late on our garage payment. They didnt tell us that we were responsible for the $200 garage payment. If we were responsible for it and were told, why didnt we have to pay it with the other money we paid to begin the lease? - Now for the biggest problem of all. Noise. I have lived in apartments quite a bit. I know what normal noise is like in an apartment. We can hear the people next to us laughing. We can hear people coming up the stairs. We can hear the GD dog on the second floor barking all the GD time. It is so forking loud that it is almost miserable. We are on the third floor and have two young kids (6 and 3). Kids play and run around. The people directly below us b**** constantly about the noise. The people below them b**** constantly about the noise. There are 4 apartments on the third floor and all of them are occupied with families that have 2 or more children. The idiots next door jump rope in the hallway. The floors are so thin that I can feel the ceiling fan from the apartment below us. We have had the police called because of our kids playing. We have talked to the management. We have asked to have padding installed under our carpet because the padding, if any at all, is incredibly thin. We have asked to be moved to a first level apartment. We have done everything but tie our kids to the beds so that they wont run around so much. It is the middle of winter here in Indy so its not like we can take the kids outside to play that much. Ware incredibly frustrated and have asked to get out of our lease. They will not let us mostly because the apartments are not full at all. I would guess that they are about 35% occupied. The majority of the residents are only there for about 6 months as they are only living there because they are having a house built in the neighborhood. The idea that I have, and would like feedback about, is to put a sign in my windows, that say, "I HATE MY APARTMENT PHONE #" Then I can tell every prospective apartment shopper what a piece of crap product they are trying to sell. There is nothing in my lease that says you cant have things in your window. Even if it did, that sign is not offensive. People had X-mas stuff in their windows and no one complained about that. I know it would piss the apartments and even more so the neighborhood off and hopefully they would let us leave. Sorry to be so long winded and I appreciate any help that you guys, and gals, may have.
1. don't put up the sign 2. move out 3. read the lease very carefully when you sign your next one...don't be distracted by the promises made orally to you by management. probably not the answer you wanted!
Apartments suck. Save your money and buy a duplex. Rent out the other side to some chap who help pays for your mortgage. That or buy a 2/2 condo. You should be able to find something in the $1200 range in Indy right? My 2 cents...... I plan on getting a place this summer.
We probably will not lease again. This was only temporary due to moving from Houston. Thanks for the advice even though it isnt what I want to hear.
They have some Brownstones in our same nieghborhood that we could mortgage for what we are paying in rent and they are much much nicer. Plus when we leave we could rent out for about $2000 to $2200 so we are thinking about doing that but nothing is set in stone. We have been mulling this idea over for quite some time but we are wanting to know how my job will hold up first.
Why won't they let you move to a first floor apartment if the complex is only 35% occupied? Maybe if you and your downstairs neighbor asked management together to let you move then management may reconsider. If not, then maybe your downstairs neighbor will be more tolerant because they know that you tried to fix the situation. If it makes you feel any better, I once had a first floor apartment next to a volleyball court. There is nothing more annoying than a volleyball hitting a sliding glass door...repeatedly.
MB, I work for an apartment management company, but it doesn't sound like one of our buildings (sounds like an A property and we do Bs). Who is the management, if you don't mind saying? 1. It sounds like the construction is very shoddy. Leaking roof, thin walls, new appliances blowing up, bad wiring. Unfortunately, I don't think you can retaliate for bad construction. 2. Having you pay for water is a growing trend in the industry. You have to sign a rider with your lease that specifies you are responsible for water. Check your paperwork. If they can't show where you consented to it, I doubt they can force you to pay. Be careful, since they might also want to do it with electricity, gas, and trash. Laws govern utility billbacks, but I don't recall Indiana being a trouble state for us. 3. I don't see how they did anything wrong with the satellite dish. 4. It is also common that they don't give you free parking when they give you free rent. It is also common to not make that clear to customers. And, it's reasonable that it isn't included in the first/last month rent they demand because they have considerably less trouble evicting someone from a parking spot than evicting them from an apartment. 5. I wouldn't put up a sign. If the old management's been fired, you might want to give the new folks a little time to see things your way in a friendly manner. Were the old ones fired for incompetence or because they cost too much (the latter would be a bad sign)? In northern cities, there are often fair housing organizations to help residents battle landlords. There was a pretty effective organization in Chicago when I lived there. You may want to find who's around and what help they can offer you. 6. Breaking your lease will hurt your credit. If you intend to buy, you should probably do so before you break your lease, and before interest rates go up.
They are likely hesitant to let him relocate because it is expensive to turn an apartment over -- paint, clean carpets, clean, etc. But, if he were to trade with another resident and declined any turn services, they might be amenable.
Management Company - Spanos Corp. 1. For what we are paying the construction should not be shoddy. We had the property manager come to our apartment and they said everything is up to code so there is nothing they would do. The doors downstairs have the levers on them to keep the doors from slamming but they do not work (for whatever reason). We have asked them several times to fix this so that we do not have to hear the damn things slam every time someone comes in or out. 2. Its says in the lease but not on a rider. I know I should have read the lease better. 3. We specifically asked if we could have it in multiple rooms and they said it was pre wired. 4. The amount was due only days after we paid to move in. We specifically asked also when our next payment would be due and they said October 1. 5. Management has been turned over twice since we moved in both due to incompetence. When we talked to the "new" management they told us the whole story. The property owners will not do anything to remedy the situation so I do not see how new management is going to fix our problems. 6. If breaking the lease is mutual then it will not hurt my credit. I have had several people tell me not to put the sign up but no one has really given me a reason why. Are there any repercussions that would hurt me in the long run? Would they have any legal way of making me take it down?
I don't know if they can make you take the sign down. I recommended not putting up a sign because it is essentially a declaration of war and the folks in the management office will be even less disposed to do anything to help you. They will take it personally. If you feel like your relationship with your landlord is so completely shot that there is absolutely no hope of reconciliation, if you feel there is no way you can finish the term of your lease, then go ahead and put the sign up. You might be able to force their hand if you're a sufficiently annoying resident. Just be careful not to do anything for which they can justify an eviction.
Every lease should have an out...It's called a "Releting Fee" (sp?)...It's usually 1 months rent, which they deduct the deposit from...
I had one apartment complex tell me that the reletting fee did not allow me to get out of the rest of the lease. So, if I wanted to leave early, I had to pay the reletting fee AND pay all the remaining rent at once. I would then move out and they would have access to the apartment. I asked them why I would possibly want to do that since if I had to pay all the rent anyway, I might as well just continue to pay the rent for the remainder of the lease and avoid the fee (not to mention avoiding having to pay the remaining rent in one lump sum). I ended up not moving in there.
One of our kids got sick and we had to go get him from Chicago. He has asthma really bad and against our wish her mom smoked around him. Smoke + our son = an emergency room visit. We were really disappointed that we missed your show but we will definitely have to hook up the next time you are here.
Mos Def I'm glad your kid is OK. There was a guy at the show that we set up, and he brought with him the most obnoxious woman. I ripped her pretty good hoping to Christ that it wasn't your party. They wanted to speak to me after the show but I declined, fearing an ass-whipping. I can sleep better now.
Nope, not me. My wife is obnoxious, but only behind closed doors like most other women. Usually in public I am the one being an ass.
You pay $1425 a month in rent? You could own a $160-180,000 house for that much and pay property taxes + insurance with interest rates as they are.
In Indy, property taxes are 1% so I could own a house more expensive than that. We just moved here in August and without knowing what is going to happen with my job (I am an IT Consultant out of a regional office so I could move around) we didnt want to buy anything. We have all the money we made from our home in Houston and it is just sitting there. We will do something eventually.
